Footwear.



LE BARON C. COLT.

FOOTWEAR.

APPLICATION FILED JAN- 5. 1916.

1 ,1 97., 9 l 3 Patented Sept. 12,1916.

WITNESS f M jag/7 BY Hi5 A TTORNEY 1 i mamas v.fih iginal application filed April 6, 1915,

J VA the folloit'ir'igi s afull, clear, and exact description. v 1 a invention relates toy-that class; of footwear I 1.,combined'w1th fabric or other fibrous mah as-rubber boots'and ove'rshoes,

Y. he obje 'toffmy inventionis to provide h" footwear, which will'have cation lie a divisional application at myprior application filed-April 6,

25,191.5 gerialNumber 19,604. M

Imhe rdinary rubber soletennis shoe or Qes not projectfbeyo'nd theilppe-r and-that 1o" ed to the upper by means of offrubber extending from a ing upw dly from the sole; so 't-ha thesole' kha's'gnoprojecting welt portion til/receive and support the lateralexpansion of the upper klurin gthe tread; theed'ge of the sole I beingflushl withvdthe sides of the upper.

4 101.. This. "co st ucti nalso results in at shoe which is moreor less 'crude" an'dlilnsightly in appearance and one that; is not aid "pted e we Specification of Letters Patent.

"that is" made of rubber or of rubber can vasshoes, tennis shoes," dancas" to comfort, pleasing rid durability that pertainto shoes 7;. ad 1 I er org/canvas, without the dism aclyantag'es riciderit .'to" rubber shoes or rubber sole' ca 's' ishoesi-as'heretofore manusnefalkerfitwillfbe appreciatedthatthe S619 a... n. the art as foxing, which and 4e aretransverse sectional views through theball or toe port-ion of ashoe;

illustratingtwo modifications. in construcfor I rat ntuse t. 12 1916.

Serial No. 19,604. Divided and as application filed January 5, 1916. Serial No. 70,357.

shoe or irubberboo tfand it will beiiirrderstood thatalthough the invention .is iarticula rly described. and illustrate'd in the "drawings; as embodied. in a rubbersol'ed shoe, 1t is not designed to be restricted I r v ALIlTDIlL Rt-BBEB'comrANy, A CORPORATION or maroon ISLAND. 5'; v i

thereto but may beembodiedin an iovershoe .or rubberboot, or 1n factanyarticle of footwear provided with a rubber sole.

Br efly stated. a my. invention comprises providing shoe sole made of rubber with a stiffening member in the form ofia welt or welt sole wh ch may: be easily and securely attached to the. upper and which may have applied to it a tap sole ofrubber or similar --mate-ria].; This is accomplished in my in- Xention without the useofi foxing and with, out the necessity of :buffing .or otherwise trimmingthe edges of the sole which in any event 1s impracticable b'ecause'a rough raw edge 1s given to.the. finished article.

For a detailed description of two forms;

of myinvention reference may be hadito-the following specification and to the accom-- panyingdrawing forming a partthereof, in which 1" :1 Figure 1 1s a perspective v ew of 'ashoe:

.vention'; -Fig. a perspective \lBW of the sole portion t-hei-eot', ,detached; and Figs. .9

tion.' v. v

Referring to the drawlng the numeral 1 leather. v 1 Th'e'nuni'eral' 2 indicates the welt or stiff- "ening sole'and 3 the tap sole.

The stiffening-sole may beucomposed of hat resulting fig stera'ted ned; fabric :dzon each side a of the sole and a strip 6 of unvulcanized rubber is applied all around the edge of the stiffening element, thus forming a rounded welt. This welt sole thus being, made independently of the other parts of the shoe is then coated with cement along its margin and is applied to the upper while-the latter is in position on the last, the'edges. of the upper being turned inwardly and also being coated with cement if necessary. \Vhere the upper consists of several plies of canvas or other material, the plies may be also united along theiredges by cement. A layer of rubber compound 7 is also preferably appliedto the stifi'ening member 5 between I the margins of the upper and a layer of friction fabric 8 applied between the layer 7 and the insole 9. The tap sole 3 is then cemented to the welt sole 2 and the shoe thus assembled is placed in the heater or vulcanizer and vulcanizedor cured.

In Fig. -l I have illustrated amodified form of construction of the weltsole. Instead of continuing the stiffening element 5 and its fabric coverings 4 entirely across the sole as in Fig. 3, the central portion is cutout making the stiffening element in the form of a frame whose edges are covered with a strip of rubber 6 and which is applied to the upper in the same manner as before described, except that the intermediate layer of rubber before indicated by the numeral 7 is made somewhat thicker to fill up the saace made by cutting away the welt sole between the margins 10 as at 7'. Of course it will be understood that the stiffening element may be made of any suitable material.

The construction above described results .in a shoe that is not only pleasing in appearance, comfortable to the wearer, but which is also very durable, as it has been found that the upper is very firmly united to the welt sole by the method employed I as above described; and moreover, the construction provides a welt extension of relatively rigid character, protecting the upper and forming a support to receive the pressure of the tread during wear.

i An important advantage incident to the l, constructions above described results in the improved appearance when the same is used .in the manufacture of shoes having white rubber soles. As is well known, 1t 1s ditlicult'to vulcanize white rubber stock to the same degree of stiffness that can be obtained 7 with dark or black rubber stock, unless a large amount of sulfur is used which causes the white rubber to turn yellow or have a, stained appearance.

When the constructions above described are employed the stiffening member may be made of dark rubber stock capable of being vulcanized to a'high degree of hardness, and when the edges thereof are covered with soft white rubber stock, the welt as it appears in the finished shoe will be perfectly white and clean. This advantage IS in addition to the increased binding effect of the soft rubber strip or welt. The method of binding the stiffening member also produces a rounded welt which its highly ornamental to the edge'of the sole.

I believe that I am the first one to have produced shoes of the type shown in the drawing with projecting soles which can be made entirely of rubber or rubber and canvas or which have all the outward appearance and surface characteristics of leather soled shoes with all the advantages of rigidity along the welt portion comprising increased wearing qualities and incomparably more sightly.

Having described my invention what I claim and desire to protect by. Letters Patent is:

1. In a rubber sole shoe, a welt sole having a hard rubber stiffening member, a binding strip of soft rubber covering the margins thereof, an upper vulcanized to said binding strip at a point removed from its outer edge, and a tap sole vulcanized-to said welt sole. 2. In a rubber sole shoe, a welt sole having a hard rubber stiffening member, an upper having its edge turned inwardly and vuleanized to the margin of said welt sole at a point removed from its outer edge by sole. 1

3. In a rubber sole shoe, a welt sole having a relatively hard rubber stiffening member, a 'bindingstrip of soft rubber covering the margins thereof, an upper having its edge turned inwardly and vulcanized to sa1d binding strip at a point removed from its outer edge, and a tap sole vulcanized to said welt sole.

4. In a rubber sole shoe, a. welt sole having a relatively hard rubber stiffening member having fabric thereon, a binding strip of soft vulcanized rubber covering the margins of said member and 'fabric, an upper having its edge turned inwardly and vulcanized to said binding strip at a point removed from its outer edge, and a tap sole vulcanized to said welt sole,

5. In a rubber sole shoe, a welt sole having a relatively hard rubber stiifenin -member composed of mixed fibers and ru ber, a

mwpw

from its euter edge, and tap sole V111 vcani'zed to said welt-so1e. f f 6. In a rubber sole sh0'e,'a Welt sole having a relativelyhard rubber stifi'ening-mem- 5 ber, a rounded edge or Welt of soft rubber carried thereby, an upper-having its edge turned inwardly; and attached to said soft @Decerfiber, 1915. 4

said Welt sole and coextensive therewith.

Signed at Bristol, in'the county of Bristol, and State of fihode Island, this 31st day of LE BARON O. COLT. 

